Isabelle Joshua's Blog, page 6

Review: Diary of a Wedding Planner in Love

Diary of a Wedding Planner in Love by Violet Howe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was heartbreaking and swoon-worthy. I felt the pain and confusion she experienced; I thought the difficulty and communication issues that Cabe and Tyler experienced were brilliant and authentic. I laughed a lot and got upset at the difficulties their relationship went through. It was a satisfying ending, but I can't wait to read the next book.

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Review: Diary of a Single Wedding Planner

Diary of a Single Wedding Planner by Violet Howe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was fun, and I loved the characters. It was frustrating at times because she was destructive but the relationship with Cabe was adorable. I liked the stories of the brides and weddings; it isn't a fast book, but it is enjoyable throughout, and I definitely laughed. Parts of it are hilarious, and many parts are just too cute. The supporting characters were believable and interesting. While Tyler is a little wishy-washy, it isn't unexplainable, and she makes progress in her character. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

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Review: Thirty-Two Going on Spinster

Thirty-Two Going on Spinster by Becky Monson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is such a fun book! The characters are fun and interesting. Julia is stuck in her life, and she's hilariously awkward and shy. There's a lip waxing scene and the embarrassment that ensues after it had me laughing so loud and long afterward. This book is easy to read and the characters are adorable!

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Review: I Was a Bitch: A Romance Mystery Book

I Was a Bitch: A Romance Mystery Book by Emily Ruben
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book is so not Hot, unlike Finn

This book should have been a DNF but I am stubborn, and it doesn't take long for me to read so I finished it. The characters were immature and cliche-ish. The flashbacks were awkward and too much. Maybe there are HS girls that act like this, but it seems so completely unbelievable. And when is joking cockiness sexy? Nothing appealed to me in this book. The thousands of times she kept saying Finn was so sexy, Hot whatever were too much (every page). This book needed an editor, and I am sure all the references to Finn's hotness would have cut 100 pages or so. Oh and the stupid nicknames "Lace-bear." Fortunately, it was free, but I feel like I actually lost brain cells from reading this trash. I felt like I was reading about a relationship that has gone past the stage of annoyingly sweet that you want to vomit and kill yourself when you find yourself in their presence again. But since she managed to peak my interest to find out what happened the night of the party and it was a surprise, that got her the two stars. Otherwise, avoid like the plague if you value your sanity.

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Review: The Honeymoon Prize

The Honeymoon Prize by Melissa McClone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cute fun story

It was a quick and easy read. Kept my mind distracted from any other things. Finished it in a day. Why did I rate it a 3, because I didn't feel anything. I felt like the story was being told to me, I wasn't wrapped up in it. While I generally like the characters, there wasn't much there. The story line was so-so and not too compelling. But I didn't hate it; it was okay and a distraction.


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Review: Replica

Replica by Lauren Oliver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I listened to this book, and Lyra's story was first. I was very interested in the plot line, the clones, her story-telling about the new world for her, the relationship with 72. I wasn't ready for it to be over, but there were times that my mind drifted and I wasn't paying attention, this is rare if I love the book. Then I listened to Gemma's story and didn't like her very much. I understand why Lyra thought she was a monster; she'd been told that and treated as such for years by the Haven employees. But Gemma and April and the internal dialog about clones being monsters irritated me and the juvenile drama between them. Do teenagers really act so dumb and immature, maybe, but I didn't like it. It rubbed me the wrong way and the book started to fall flat for me. Especially when I realized that Gemma's story wasn't going to finish the book for me, but this is most likely a trilogy. I'm not sure if I want to spend more energy on this story, I would for Lyra's part with 72, but not crazy about Gemma and her instant love. So it was okay and an interesting story. I've read Lauren Oliver in the past and loved some of her books (like Delirium) and others I just liked and some I couldn't get past the first chapter. But many others like it, and it is definitely YA Fantasy!

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Review: Before I Fall

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very good story, engaging and a very compelling story. But so sad as well. Oliver really writes books that make you think about your relationships. Great story.

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Review: A Family of Her Own

A Family of Her Own by Brenda Novak
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I've read other Brenda Novak novels and I really like them. But this series has disappointed me. The dialog and characters seem stiff and lifeless. I didn't connect with the characters or the story. I finished it, and it was good enough, so that I did, in fact, finish it, but it was very forgettable, even now, I struggle to remember the plot and I just finished it yesterday. I don't recommend this book, but I loved Brenda Novak's Whiskey Creek Series. I guess the Dundee Series isn't for me. This is the second book in the series I've read and I don't care to read anymore.

Oh and on a side note, Katie's parents were despicable. I kept thinking to myself that I will never treat my children like this and wanted to rush out to talk to my husband about how they treated their children. Christianity is shown in a bad light, which I'm not totally against, but these religious idiots were the worse offenders of small-town gossip.

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Re-reading books

I recall re-reading my favorite books when I was young.  I got "Gone With The Wind" for my fifteenth birthday and read it over the course of two days, that thousand page sweeping romantic drama stole my heart even more than the movie. The movie is still one of my all-time favorites, but the book is delicious. The story and the emotions it simmered inside of me brought happiness into my life when at times I was unhappy. When I didn't have time for a 1000-page engrossing page turner but wanted to recreate those feelings, I would re-read the last 50 pages or so, and the story would flood in.

So escaping into the book became a regular occurrence during my teen years. On Saturdays, we had to clean the house top to bottom. My room was usually a mess, so I would have a legitimate reason to be in there for hours, but I became really good at shoving my open book under my pillow and racing to look like I was cleaning when my mom came down the hall. Then I would do a little more cleaning and get right back to my book. I wasn't the stereotypical bookworm shown in movie or books, despite my deep love and affection for stories, I was very social.  Years later as an enlightened adult, I realize I'm split between an introvert and an extrovert. In school, I was social and had a group of friends that I spent lots of time with, but then the weekend came, and I loved spending all weekend at home without my friends. I got to recharge. It worried my older motherly sister that I wanted to spend Friday nights in front of the tv watching a movie or reading a book, but I just knew I needed to be by myself.

Now, with five children in my house and an extrovert husband, I need to escape. So sometimes when I don't want to search for a new book to read, I will go back to my favorites. This week I needed an escape from the election aftermath, so I re-read Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi, a YA dystopian romance. This is actually the third time to read it since I discovered it in June.  Want to know what I'm reading and what I want to read, then check out my Goodreads account.

Do you have books that you like to re-read?  I realize that many times it's because of the love interest is yummy, the dialog, the hilarity or other things bring me back to these books. Sometimes, like in Outlander, I know the story so well, and I don't care for all the descriptions and other stuff that make it an enormous book I will skip to the sections that just have the dialog or parts with Jaime and Claire.

Books (off the top of my head) that I've read more than twice:

1. Gone With The Wind
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Emma
4. Shopaholic Series
5. Jane Eyre
6. Villette
7. Outlander
8. Almost all Susan Elizabeth Phillip's books
9. Some of Jill Shalvis' books
10. All of Sophie Kinsella's books (author of Shopaholic and more)
11. Divergent Series
12. Big Girl Panties
13. The Selection Series
14. Shatter Me Series
15. The Swallow (of course but mostly due to editing, though I do love this story)
16. Fifty Shades of Grey Series

Happy reading!

Isabelle

Review: The Glittering Court

The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to the audiobook, and I'm so glad I did because of the accents. It is an adventurous story, and I loved the heroine. So bold and daring. The love story was slow and appealing, and the descriptions made the fantasy/historical world come alive. The dialog was quick and witty. The characters were complex, and I didn't anticipate the ending at all. I was completely swept away in the story. I went straight away to start listening to the second book and was disappointed that I'll have to wait until May 2017. The book crosses two continents with adventure, intrigue, and passion throughout. The story concluded very nicely, and the next two book will be about different characters already introduced. Beautiful and captivating story.

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